The present invention generally relates to communicating with networked electronic devices. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for real-time monitoring and controlling of networked appliances using an intermediate server.
Modern technological development in computer systems and electronics increasingly emphasizes inter-operability and communications among a plurality of electronic devices in a widely-networked environment. For example, a refrigerator, which was typically a standalone appliance in the past, is now sometimes designed to be connected to a wide-area network such as the Internet, a cellular network, and/or WiMax to receive information about online recipes or grocery discounts at a local store. If the refrigerator is connected to the Internet, an owner of the refrigerator may even be able to change the refrigerator's temperature settings by logging into an online home appliance control interface while at work. Similarly, a conventional closed-circuit surveillance camera which required an application-specific control unit may now be replaced with an IP-based surveillance camera, which may be controlled by an authenticated user interface connected to the Internet, regardless of the physical location of the authenticated user interface.
As more electronic devices are brought into a realm of digital convergence and interoperability as “networked appliances” over local-area network (LAN) and wide-area network (WAN), it is increasingly becoming important to provide a coherent method and an apparatus to monitor and control networked appliances in both LAN and WAN intuitively. The existing method of monitoring and controlling networked appliances is largely confined to one-to-one command and control between an application-specific user interface and a networked appliance. For example, a dedicated video surveillance user interface which came as a bundle software with a video surveillance camera may allow a user to control or monitor the video surveillance camera, but not a networked refrigerator. In order to control or monitor the networked refrigerator, the user typically needs another dedicated user interface specifically designed to communicate with the networked refrigerator.
As a large number of electronic devices become connected to either a LAN or a WAN as networked appliances, they become increasingly challenging and difficult to track, monitor, or control just with a multiple number of bundle software. Therefore, it is highly advantageous to devise an apparatus and a method to provide an integrated user interface which coherently monitors and controls individual networked appliances in real-time.